Crucifix

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This painted wood crucifix, currently housed in the Cappella della Pura in Santa Maria Novella in Florence, offers a particularly grim image of Christ's suffering body: painfully thin with protruding bones, slumping low on the cross, arms stretched upward, twisted abruptly to one side, and covered in sores. It was likely made around 1320 by a German artist, as in this period sculptors from Northern Europe traveled through Italy, carving such painful looking crucifixes for Italian churches. In contrast to the suffering body of Christ, the cross is almost festive, covered with painted ornate decoration and framed by a leaf motif that reminds the viewer of the tree of life. Photograph(s) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.